by Alan Carlisle

Trina’s Hunn’s post about Petersen’s Boatyard (NyackNewsAndViews, 12/16/2009) is full of wisdom.

Change is the only constant and better to manage it then allow it to eat you up. Listen to her advice…she wants the boat yard as it is.. she moved there to embrace its’ opportunity..but her worldly experience understands where this zone request may certainly end up..she is so right about the devil you know.

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Nyack, Jan 30 — A Friday late night fight in the Riveria Steakhouse at the foot of Main Street resulted in two arrests and an officer being sent to the hospital with shards of glass in his eye.

The melee resulted from a customer stealing several liquor bottles from behind the bar and then throwing one of the bottles through the front window of the restaurant. Eyewitnesses counted at least 22 police cars on the scene. According to the Journal News, officers from Clarkstown, Piermont, South Nyack-Grandview, Spring Valley, the Rockland Sheriff’s Department, New York State Police and New York state Park Police responded to the incident.

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by Tina Traster

Dec. 31. Snow is falling gently. It’s nearly midday, and I’m wearing a bathrobe over my pajamas while I set the table for our New Year’s Eve dinner party. My mind is caught up in the particulars of the upcoming meal and on the reflections of another year gone by.

A sickening boom breaks my reverie. Outside my living room window, giant slices of picket fence and boulders are airborne. It looks like a tornado.

A car had slid on black ice up the road and went careening through our fence and rock wall. If it hadn’t been for the Catalpa tree and a steel girder behind a fence post, the car would have ended up in my living room. It’s unnerving enough to see the battered rear bumper 12 feet from my bay window.

I stare at the wreckage, stunned. It reminds me of the scene from “The Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy’s house lifts off the ground and splinters. But this is not a bump-on-the-head dream. It’s a nightmare — one I’ve been expecting.

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By Doug Foster

Nyack, Jan 11 — Did you know there was a vote for Library Trustees on Monday?  Five people ran for four open library trustee positions.

Usually there is no competition for Trustee seats, but this year a resident went through the petition process to get on the ballot.  The library is a strange hybrid, acting on the one hand like a normal not-for-profit, and the other as a public entity with elected officials.  The library is an association, establish by the state with its own tax base, in this case following the Nyack School District boundaries.  This guarantees its revenues.  Like a normal not-for-profit, the Board appoints its Trustees, although they do get on a ballot to be voted on by residents. And residents can get on the ballot through the petition process just as any other elected official.

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The NYS Comptroller has issued a report critical of how the Nyack Fire District funded a new station. Local fire commissioners say their efforts have saved taxpayer dollars.

by Bill Demarest

NYACK (Dec. 30) – A state audit released this week criticizes the Nyack Joint Fire District board for the methods used to finance the $3.5 million new firehouse on Park Street in Nyack, but fire commissioners say state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has sounded a false alarm with his report.

The audit is the culmination of a three-year process which put the comptroller’s office in conflict with Nyack’s fire commissioners. Local fire officials contend they are being unfairly criticized for replacing a 130 year old dilapidated firehouse with a modern structure.

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By Tina Traster

Listen up, realtors — I’ve got a tip for you. Forget curb appeal or the new bathroom or the hot tub on the deck.

Think food instead.

Plug the greenhouse or garden. Suggest carving out a vegetable patch where there is lawn. Mention the town’s weekly farmers’ market. When showing a house, drop names of nearby shops and restaurants selling healthy, organic, vegetarian, vegan, local, sustainable, gluten-free, pesticide-free, antibiotic-free whole foods.

Talk it up because food is having its “it” moment. It’s more relevant than granite counters and marble baths.

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The Halls and Jeanette Corvino are South Nyack neighbors with homes for sale. Jeffrey and Sharon Hall have listed their home with Wright Brothers Realty, but Ms. Corvino is trying to sell it herself as a “for sale by owner.”  Here’s a NY Times case study in Nyack featuring the pluses and minuses of each approach. Continue reading →

By Bill Demarest

NYACK – The focus about anything Nyack is usually on the downtown. But if you take a walk up the hill, there are some good things happening.

Up along Highland Avenue (Route 9W), construction has been moving on quickly for the new Provident Bank branch at the corner of High Avenue. With the move of Nyack’s Dapper Dog to its new location another block north on Highland (in the long closed florist), this neighborhood has become busy again.

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Few people are aware that there is a vote next week, but on Tuesday (12/8) from 6pm to 9pm the poll will be open at Central Fire Station at 19 Park Street.  On the ballot will be Richard Sculley running for commissioner unopposed, and an amendment for setting up a capital improvement fund.

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by Doug Foster

Nov 23, 2009 — Saturday marked the Nyack Library’s open house to show off its 15,000 square foot addition, designed by Michael Esmay, doubling the size of the original Carnegie building.

Roger Seiler, Board President, and James Mahoney, the Library’s director gave tours of the new building, along with many of the Board Trustees.  It is an impressive space, with the second floor dedicated for kids and activities, and the third floor for adults.  The first floor has a beautiful conference room.

The project is behind schedule and unfortunately residents will have to wait until January, probably, to be able to use the new space.  At that time work will be done in the older building and the entire project should be complete by mid 2010.

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